Bones found in yard of rebuilt Santa Ana home

Jan. 27, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Santa Ana Police investigate after residents working on their back yard discovered a skull and other bones believed to be human Sunday on North Hesperian Street. Freshly turned dirt and a plastic tarp were visible in the backyard Monday morning. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Monday at a home on North Hesperian Street, Santa Ana, the coroner sent an anthropologist to excavate remains, possibly human, found in a backyard where residents digging up the ground during a landscape project. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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In the area where human remains have been unearthed, at a home's backyard on North Hesperian Street, Santa Ana, boards covered the ground and plastic traps protected the scene. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A Santa Ana police officer lifts crime scene tape for an unidentified man to enter a home where residents, working on their back yard, discovered a skull and other bones believed to be human. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Santa Ana Police investigate after residents working on their back yard discovered a skull and other bones believed to be human Sunday on North Hesperian Street near Park Lane in Santa Ana. KEVIN WARN, FOR THE REGISTER

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A television cameraman positions his camera high over a wall in hopes to see some police activity in the backyard of a home on North Hesperian Street, Santa Ana, where what appear to be human remains were dug up by residents while landscaping. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Santa Ana police officer have blocked North Hesperian Street and are on duty watching the perimeter at an investigation scene where residents working on their back yard discovered a skull and other bones believed to be human. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Monday morning, a lot of media attention was focused on a home where residents, working on their back yard, discovered a skull and other bones believed to be human. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Monday at a home on North Hesperian Street, Santa Ana, the coroner sent an anthropologist to excavate remains, possibly human, found in a backyard where residents digging up the ground during a landscape project. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Members of the Orange County Sheriffs Department coroner's office and Santa Ana police officers work in the 2500 block of North Hesperian Street, investigating human remains found in a residential backyard. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A Santa Ana Police officer, camera in hand, investigates after residents working on their back yard discovered a skull and other bones believed to be human Sunday on North Hesperian Street. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Santa Ana Police investigate after residents working on their back yard discovered a skull and other bones believed to be human Sunday on North Hesperian Street near Park Lane in Santa Ana. KEVIN WARN, FOR THE REGISTER

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Santa Ana Police investigate after residents working on their back yard discovered a skull and other bones believed to be human Sunday on North Hesperian Street near Park Lane in Santa Ana. KEVIN WARN, FOR THE REGISTER

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Santa Ana Police investigate after residents working on their back yard discovered a skull and other bones believed to be human Sunday on North Hesperian Street near Park Lane in Santa Ana. KEVIN WARN, FOR THE REGISTER

Santa Ana Police investigate after residents working on their back yard discovered a skull and other bones believed to be human Sunday on North Hesperian Street. Freshly turned dirt and a plastic tarp were visible in the backyard Monday morning.BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The couple dug into a 2-foot tall berm in their yard, police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said, when they unearthed the bones. Police say the remains are still partially buried, and they cannot tell if they are likely from a man or a woman. Coroner's officials have not yet confirmed they are human.

The residential lot in the 2500 block of North Hesperian Street was the site of a 2006 fire that injured the owner, according to a Register report. One neighbor described the previous owner as a "pack rat," and witnesses saw huge stacks of burned newspapers in the back yard.

After the fire, the family next door purchased the property and rebuilt, Bertagna said. The man and woman who discovered the remains are members of the family and live at the new house, he added.

After police received the report around 2 p.m., they designated the yard a crime scene. The coroner's office plans to wait until daylight breaks Monday, said Allison O'Neal, supervising deputy coroner, before excavation, which can take hours.

Also, the berm stretches across the property's southern fence, Bertagna said, and officials may dig into the rest of the mound.

An anthropologist will collect the bones and analyze them at the coroner's office, O'Neal said, first to confirm that they are human. If so, a pathologist will attempt to determine a cause of death.

The previous owner had the home for more than 20 years, Bertagna said.

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